Because He Asked
by Laura Schiller
Summary: Ikuto climbs through a grown-up Amu's balcony one more time. Their reunion is not quite what he imagined.


Because He Asked

By Laura Schiller

Based on: Shugo Chara!

Copyright: Peach Pit

Ikuto was back in Tokyo for the first time in eight years. The orchestra he worked with was performing there, and while he was in the city, he decided he might as well look up a few old friends.

Amu's balcony was a bit harder to climb up without the benefit of a feline shugo chara (the little scamp had reintegrated into his bearer's soul six years ago). Her bedroom had changed, too: the crescent moons and card suit symbols on the walls were partially covered by photos of her friends and posters of pop stars (including one of Utau, looking stunning in a white angel costume). A sleek silver laptop was sitting on her desk., and the dollhouse was gone. Ran, Miki, Suu and Dia must have faded as well.

Before he was quite finished examining the room, Amu herself strolled in, humming a song under her breath. She closed her eyes, flopped down gracelessly onto her bed _(just as she used to when I was living here) _and lay still for a few seconds. He couldn't help but notice how tall she was, and that her pink hair was down to her chest. No hairclips, either.

The opportunity was too good to resist.

Ikuto slipped inside, tiptioed over the bed, and poked her soft cheek with one finger.

She screeched and leaped off the bed, whirling to face him and takin on a defensive posture. Eight years ago, he could have pinned her down easily, but she matched his height now and was impressively quick.

"Hello there, Amu," he said, trying for charm. "Long time no see."

"You just can't take the front door like a normal person, can you?" she retorted, shaking her head.

"Don't I get a hello?"

"Hello, Ikuto," she said, crossing her arms. "How the hell did you know I was home from college this weekend?"

"Lucky guess. Wait, college?"

"Uh-huh. Undergraduate studies in psychotherapy. I think of it as X egg defense, the grown-up way."

He whistled, letting his eyes travel across Amu's slim figure some more.

"That's right … you really have grown up, haven't you? Guess all that milk must've paid off after all."

Ten years ago, on his very first nightly visit, he had told her teasingly that all the milk she drank would not make her breasts any bigger. She had covered them up and sputtered like a teakettle in furious indignation. Now, she merely rolled her eyes.

"How's Tadase?" he pried, determined to get a rise out of her somehow. "Did you ever get any further than holding hands?"

She blushed. "None of your damn business, Ikuto."

"Aha! Hit a nerve, did I?" If they'd broken up, that would be perfect. He could snatch her up, so to speak, off the rebound. Poor little Tadase, though …

"Well, if you _must_ know … " She held up her left hand and showed him the back of it, smiling impishly. On the fourth finger was a ring, silver or maybe white gold, with a tiny diamond. Ikuto's eyebrows shot up; if he'd still had a tail, it would have bristled like a bottle-brush.

"En-engaged?"

Her smile widened. "Uh-huh. Tadase proposed on graduation night. Once we've finished our studies and found work, we're getting married."

"You and the kiddy king? Oh c'mon, seriously?"

He hardly knew what he was saying. He was conscious of a vague, queasy feeling, as if he were spinning in place while all the rest of the world moved forward. He had thought of himself as a great travler, an adventurer, playing music all over the world and pitying all the poor souls stuck in their hometowns. What had he expected? To have twelve-year-old Amu still living in this room, ready as ever to rise to his bait and be dazzled by his black-cat charm?

Perhaps she still was, though. Ready to be dazzled, that is. It worked with every other girl he knew, after all.

He leaned forward, catching her chin in his long fingers and staring deeply into her amber eyes.

"You can do better, Amu," he purred. "You need a real man … someone who's not too timid to love you as you should be loved … "

Eight years ago, his words would have left her completely undone. Now, she stepped away from him and let out a rather unladylike snort.

"You've really been gone for a _long _time, huh? There's nothing timid about my fiancé – at least, not where I'm concerned!"

She laughed, and he recognized the sound – it was the sort of mischievous, satisfied giggle you hear from a woman happily in love. She seemed to be remembering some exciting moment; then, changeable as always, she sobered up again and shook her head.

"No, see, that's your mistake," she said. "You've confused respect with timidity. Remember when you were hiding in my closet and Tadase confessed to me?"

He scowled. Later that day, to stop him from needling her about Tadase, she had asked him whom he, Ikuto, loved. He had bluntly told her that she was the one; she had smacked him on the head, called him a liar, and dumped him off the edge of the bed.

"Tadase said, _Will you let me fall in love with you?_ You thought that was ridiculous, and later you even threw it back in his face. Don't worry, I understand why you did it. I've forgiven you long ago. But you see, that's why I said yes to Tadase – because he asked."

She glanced down at her ring and clasped her hands. Her eyes shone.

"He asked me to join the Guardians, he asked me to marry him, and if I had said no to any of these things, he would have accepted it. You, on the other hand …!" She shook her head ruefully. "You've got no sense of personal boundaries, mental or physical. For God's sake, the first time I met you, you tried to steal my shugo eggs! You never explained your reasons for anything you did. When I told you to get out of my space, you never listened. You're just – _unlivable, _Ikuto."

Ikuto found himself missing the little Amu who had been so delightfully easy to discompose; now _he_ was discomposed, and it was not a pleasant feeling. No one had ever spoken to him like this – not his sister, who worshipped him, nor his mother, who was too messed up herself to notice anyone else's problems, and not his stepfather either – Hishina's insults had been neither creative nor true. And Amu wasn't even insulting – just calmly, matter-of-factly explaining why she had rejected him in favor of Hotori Tadase.

"Unlivable?" he scoffed, trying for dignity and failing. "Is that even a word?"

She held up her hands in a placating gesture. "Don't get me wrong. I do care for you. I owe you my life several times over – geez, all those times you've saved me from falling off high places! And I haven't forgotten that … time … you know."

She fished the Humpty Lock out of her white shirt collar and held it up, silently referring to that indescribable moment when she had united the Lock and Key, lived Ikuto's memories, and brought him out of his mind-controlled state as Death Level by giving him a hug. It had been a life-changing moment for both of them, and the emotional connection still lingered faintly in their minds.

"Have I ever thanked you for that?" Ikuto asked, in a softer tone.

"I don't remember." She tucked the Lock back under her shirt, smiling awkwardly. "But I think this makes us even where spectacular rescues are concerned, no?"

"Eh. I guess."

Ikuto, as a rule, was not comfortable with soul-baring, emotional scenes. The aforementioned one had been enough to last him a lifetime. He always made a point of defusing them with a remark that was funny, exasperating, or ideally both.

"So, does this make me your first client as a shrink or what?"

She giggled again. "No way! Let some other poor soul dive into the murky depths of Tsukiyomi Ikuto's brain."

"Oi!" He crossed his arms and glowered, which only seemed to amuse her all the more.

"You haven't changed, Ikuto," she said, wiping her eyes. "It's like sixth grade all over again."

"I'll have you know I'm twenty-five years old!" he declared.

"You'll be a teenager all your life. I can just see it." She surveyed him with those amber eyes (always older than her age, even back then) as if she really could see the rest of his life. It was vaguely uncanny. Had she been hanging out with Tsukasa too long?

"_You've_ changed," he said quietly.

Amu was no longer that schoolgirl with four shugo charas, that bundle of nervous energy and dormant potential. She was a woman who knew what she wanted, and was well on her way to getting it. She had moved on … without him.

"I know," she said, watching the sparkles on her engagement ring.

"Have you gone to see Tadase yet? He'd be really happy to see you."

"You sure?"

"Of course! You're still his _onii-san_, after all."

Ikuto was touched. Almost too much so. He cleared his throat.

"I wouldn't want to bump into any more 'personal boundaries', you know."

"Ikuto, old friend," she said, startling him with a light pat on the shoulder, "Trust me. You wouldn't."

"Does this mean I can do _this?_" He meant to grab her around the waist and pin her down onto the bed (just for fun, naturally), but she was too quick for him – before he knew it, he was on his knees with both arms twisted behind his back.

"Damn it, Amu! That hurts!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, pussycat," said Amu. "Rule number one – _no_ touching me without my permission. Is that clear?"

"Uh-huh."

"Rule number two – use the front door."

She let go abruptly, stepping back to let him get back to his feet and gather the shreds of his dignity. When he met her eyes, there was not a jot of remorse in them.

"How did you _do_ that?"

"Karate classes. Six years." She stretched her fingers. "Ran's last request before she … went."

"Ah."

There was a brief, awkward silence, in which Ikuto's pride wrestled with his desire to apologize. Pride won, as usual. He decided to show himself out before she threw him out.

"Take care, kid," he said, tossing a roguish wink over his shoulder as he walked through the balcony door.

"See you, Ikuto!" Her waving silhouette, back-lit by the lights of her bedroom, was the last thing he saw before disappearing into the night.

There would be other girls, of course. For a man like him, how could there not be? But he would always think of Amu as his shelter, his North Star on the compass, the one whose arms had saved him from himself.

And he would see her again, oh yes. He would inveigle himself into her graduation, her wedding, and every birthday party her future children ever had. Because after all, it is a truth universally acknowledged that once you feed a stray cat, he will keep on coming back.


End file.
